Cardinal Vincent Nichols Installed as Inaugural Chancellor of St Mary's University

His Eminence, Cardinal Vincent Nichols has been installed as the Chancellor of St Mary’s University, Twickenham at a special service in Westminster Cathedral.

Senior members of the Catholic Church, Parliamentarians, educators and Government officials witnessed Cardinal Vincent Nichols become St Mary’s inaugural Chancellor. Bishop Richard Moth, Chair, St Mary’s Board of Governors said, “Cardinal Nichols’ position as Chancellor underlines, in a most powerful way, our place in the Diocese of Westminster.

I thank the Cardinal for his leadership and welcome his appointment as a sign of our commitment to strengthening and developing St Mary’s University as a Catholic institution of higher education, welcoming students and staff from home and abroad.”

St Mary’s Vice-Chancellor Francis Campbell said, “Today is a time to celebrate at several levels; to acknowledge great debts to those who have gone before us and to imagine a successful and vibrant St Mary’s of the future, proudly taking her place alongside some of our finest universities in the United Kingdom and Ireland and within the global community of great Catholic seats of learning across the world. On behalf of St Mary’s staff and students, both past and present, I welcome the Cardinal to St Mary’s. We are honoured to have him as our Chancellor and look forward to his guidance and support at this important time in St Mary’s development.”

Cardinal Vincent Nichols said, “It is a great privilege and pleasure to take on this role as Chancellor. St Mary’s sees itself as an expression of all that is best in the tradition and life of the Catholic faith. Doing so gives us strong and deep roots and a stability of culture that no secular designation can bring.”

The service was followed by a reception at the Cathedral Hall attended by VIPs from the congregation including Irish Ambassador to the UK His Excellency Daniel Mulhall and a representative of the Papal Nuncio.

St Mary’s is the largest Catholic University in the UK and was founded in 1850 and celebrates her 165th anniversary this year. Later this year, Cardinal Vincent Nichols’s will visit St Mary’s campus in Strawberry Hill to celebrate Mass in the University Chapel where Pope Benedict XVI delivered an address during his State visit to Britain in 2010.